    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
    [October 23, 2004]
    [Pages 2685-2692]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Jacksonville, Florida
    October 23, 2004

        The President. Thank you all. Thank you so much for coming today.
    Brother Jeb said, ``Why don't we go to
    Jacksonville; maybe a couple of folks will show up to say hello.''
    Laura and I thank you so very much for coming out
    on a Saturday afternoon. I'm here to ask for your vote, and I'm here to
    ask for your help. People are voting here in Florida. You need to get
    your friends and neighbors to go to the polls. And by the way, when
    you're getting people to go to the polls, don't overlook discerning
    Democrats, people like Senator Zell Miller from
    Georgia. With your help, we'll carry Florida again and win a great
    victory in November.
        So when I asked Laura to marry me, she said,
    ``Fine, just so long as you--I never have to give a political speech.''
    I said, ``Okay, you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she didn't hold me to the
    promise. Laura is giving a lot of speeches, and when people see her
    speak, they see a warm, compassionate, great First Lady. I'm going to
    give you some reasons to put me back into office. Perhaps the most
    important one of all is so that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more
    years.
        I'm proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I
    admit it, he doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter] I
    didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him

    [[Page 2686]]

    because of his judgment, his experience, and his ability to get the job
    done for the American people.
        I'm proud of my brother, your Governor, Jeb Bush. You don't have to worry about where he stands. He doesn't
    take a poll or focus group to find out what he should believe. Jeb Bush
    stands on principle, and when times are tough, he leads this State with
    compassion. He has done a masterful job of helping to bring comfort for
    those who have been afflicted by the four hurricanes. Florida showed its
    true strength not only in your Governor but because people cared for
    people who were hurting in this State. I am really proud of how Florida
    handled the four hurricanes.
        Mel Martinez is the right man for the
    United States Senate from Florida. And when you vote for him and put him
    in office, he'll be joining a fine United States Senator who has joined
    us today from the State of Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch. Thank you, Senator.
        Congressman Ander Crenshaw is doing a
    great job in the House of Representatives. Thank you, Ander. Congressman
    Cliff Stearns is with us today. I appreciate
    you coming, Cliff.
        I want to thank the State chief financial officer, Tom
    Gallagher, for joining us today. I want to
    thank the mayor of the great city of Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor John
    Peyton.
        When I came in, I had the opportunity to say hello to Nelson
    Cuba, who's the president of the Jacksonville
    Fraternal Order of Police. I am proud to have the endorsement of the
    FOP. I'm proud to be standing with the policemen all across this
    country.
        I want to thank Bill Cerveny and Aaron
    Tippin for providing such wonderful
    entertainment here for this great crowd.
        I want to thank the people who put on this event. It takes a lot of
    work to get this many people to come. I want to thank the grassroots
    activists, the people who are putting up the signs, making the phone
    calls, turning out the vote. With your help, we will win a great victory
    on November the 2d.
        We have just 10 days to go in this campaign, and voters have a clear
    choice between two very different candidates and dramatically different
    approaches and records. You know where I stand, and sometimes, you even
    know where my opponent stands. [Laughter] We
    both have records. I'm running on my record. Senator Kerry's running
    from his record, and there is a reason why. There is a reason why. There
    is a mainstream in American politics, and my opponent sits on the far
    left bank. I am a compassionate conservative and proudly so. At a time
    when our country has much to accomplish and much more to do, I offer a
    record of reform and results.
        This election comes down to five clear choices for America's
    families, five choices on issues of great consequence: your family's
    security; your family's budget; your quality of life; your retirement;
    and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and to our
    future.
        The first clear choice is the most important because it concerns the
    security of your family. All our progress on every other issue depends
    on the safety of our citizens. The most--this is the first Presidential
    election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls
    in a time of war and ongoing threats unlike any we have faced before.
    The terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people are still
    dangerous. They are determined to strike us again. The outcome of this
    election will set the direction of the war against terror. I believe the
    most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the American
    people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the
    world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
        Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we have
    fought the terrorists across the Earth, not for pride, not

    [[Page 2687]]

    for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. Our
    strategy is clear. We've strengthened protections for the homeland.
    We're reforming and strengthening our intelligence capabilities. We're
    transforming our All-Volunteer Army. We will not have a draft. We will
    keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army. We are staying on the
    offensive. We are relentless. We are determined to protect the American
    people, and we're succeeding. More than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key
    members and associates have been brought to justice, and the rest of
    them know we are on their trail.
        My opponent has a different approach. He
    says that September the 11th, quote, ``didn't change me much at all,''
    end quote.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. And that's pretty clear. He
    considers the war on terror primarily a law enforcement and intelligence
    gathering operation.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. His top foreign policy
    adviser has questioned whether it's
    even a war at all, saying ``That's just a metaphor, like the war on
    poverty.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. Anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not
    understand the enemy we face, and you cannot win a war if you're not
    convinced we're even in one.
        Senator Kerry misunderstands our battle
    against insurgents and terrorists in Iraq. After voting to authorize
    force against Saddam Hussein, after calling
    it the right decision when I sent troops into Iraq, the Senator now
    calls it the ``wrong war.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. The Senator used to
    recognize that Saddam Hussein was a gathering
    threat who hated America. After all, the Senator said so. He used to
    recognize that Saddam was a state sponsor of terror with a history of
    pursuing and even using weapons of mass destruction. After all, the
    Senator said so. He used to understand that Saddam was a major source of
    instability in the Middle East. After all, the Senator said so. And when
    he voted to authorize force, the Senator must have recognized the
    nightmare scenario that terrorists might somehow access weapons of mass
    destruction. Senator Kerry seems to have forgotten all that as his
    position has evolved during the course of this campaign. You might call
    it election amnesia. [Laughter]
        I knew then and I know now that America and the world are safer with
    Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
        Senator Kerry now calls Iraq a
    ``diversion.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. But the case of just one terrorist shows how wrong
    his thinking is. A man named Zarqawi is responsible for planting car bombs and
    beheading Americans in Iraq. He ran a terrorist training camp in
    Afghanistan until American troops arrived. Then he fled to Baghdad,
    where he's fighting us today. He publicly announced his allegiance to
    Usama bin Laden. If Zarqawi and his
    associates were not busy fighting Iraqi and American forces in Iraq,
    what does Senator Kerry think they would be doing? Simple shopkeepers?
    [Laughter] Running benevolence societies? I don't think so. And our
    troops will defeat Zarqawi and his friends and allies overseas so we do
    not have to face them in America.
        The choice in this election could not be clearer. You cannot lead
    our Nation to decisive victory, on which the security of every American
    family depends, if you do not see the true dangers of the post-September
    the 11th world. My opponent has a September
    the 10th point of view. At his convention, he declared that his strategy
    will be to respond to attacks after America is hit.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. That would be too late. In our debates, he said we can defend America only if we pass a ``global
    test.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!

    [[Page 2688]]

        The President. I'm not making that up. He
    was standing about that far away from me when he said it. I'll work with
    our friends and allies. We'll continue to build strong coalitions. But I
    will never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of
    other countries.
        I want to thank those who wear the uniform who have joined us today.
    I want to thank the veterans who are here today for having set such a
    great example. I want to thank the military families who are here today.
    And I'm going to assure you, so long as I'm the Commander in Chief, our
    Federal Government will make sure your loved ones have what is necessary
    to complete their missions.
        And that's why I went to the United States Congress in September of
    2003, asking for $87 billion in supplemental funding to support our
    troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I appreciate the strong
    bipartisan support for this very important request. When you're out
    gathering up the vote, I want you to remind your friends and neighbors
    that only four Members of the United States Senate voted to authorize
    the use of force and then voted against the funding necessary to support
    our troops in harm's way, and two of those four were my opponent and his runningmate.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. They asked him, ``Why did
    you make the vote?'' And he issued perhaps the most famous quote of the
    2004 campaign, ``I actually did vote for the $87 billion, right before I
    voted against it.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. They've asked him time and
    time again, and he must have given five or six explanations of that
    vote. At one point, he said, ``The whole thing is a complicated
    matter.'' There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in
    combat.
        We'll protect America by leading the cause of freedom. I believe in
    the transformational power of liberty. I want you to remember what has
    taken place in Afghanistan in a short period of time. That country has
    gone from darkness to light. Three-and-a-half years ago, young girls
    couldn't go to school. If their mothers did not toe the line of the
    ideologues of hate who ran Afghanistan, they were whipped in the public
    square and sometimes executed in a sports stadium. Because we acted in
    our self-interest, because we upheld doctrine, 25 million people in
    Afghanistan are free. Millions went to vote in a Presidential election.
    The first voter was a 19-year-old woman in
    Afghanistan.
        Iraq will be holding elections in January. Think about how far that
    country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves.
    Freedom is on the march, and America is more secure because of it.
        I believe every person in the world wants to be free. I believe this
    because freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the
    Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
        On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin
    Towers. It is a day I will never forget. There were workers there in
    hardhats yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.''
    I remember the man coming out of the rubble--we were doing our best to
    console people--he grabbed me by the arm; he looked me in the eye; and
    he said, ``Do not let me down.'' Ever since that day, I wake up every
    morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never
    relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
        The second clear choice in this election concerns your family
    budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to lower taxes
    for American families. I kept my word. We raised the child credit. We
    reduced the marriage penalty. Listen, our Tax Code ought to encourage
    marriage, not penalize marriage. We dropped the lowest bracket to 10
    percent to help our working families. We reduced income taxes for
    everyone who pays taxes. As a result of these good policies, after-tax
    income, money in

    [[Page 2689]]

    your pocket that you can spend, is up by about 10 percent since I became
    your President.
        We've been through a lot together. When you're out rounding up the
    vote, remind your friends and neighbors that the stock market had been
    in serious decline for 6 months prior to my arrival in Washington, DC.
    And then we had a recession and corporate scandals and the attacks on
    our country. We lost nearly one million jobs in the 3 months after
    September the 11th.
        But our economic policies are working. Our economy is growing at
    rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. We've added more than 1.9
    million new jobs in the last 13 months. The unemployment rate is 5.4
    percent, lower than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Our
    farmers and ranchers are making a living. The small businesses are
    flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. Homeownership rate is
    at an alltime high, and the unemployment rate in Florida is 4.5 percent.
        My opponent has very different plans for
    your family's budget. He intends to take a big chunk out of it.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He voted against the higher
    child tax credit. He voted against the marriage penalty relief. He voted
    against lower taxes. If he had had his way, an average middle-class
    family would be paying 2,000 more dollars a year to the Federal
    Government.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. It's part of a pattern. See, the Senator voted 10 times to raise taxes on gasoline. All told,
    during his 20 years in the United States Senate, he has voted 98 times
    to raise your taxes.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. That's about five times a year. When a Senator does
    something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] During this
    campaign, he's also made a lot of big,
    expensive promises. He's promised $2.2 trillion of new Federal spending.
    That's trillion with a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a Senator from
    Massachusetts. [Laughter]
        They asked him how he's going to pay for
    it. He said, ``Oh, we'll just pay for it by taxing the rich.'' There's a
    problem with that promise. When you run up the top two brackets, you're
    taxing many small businesses. Most small businesses pay tax at the
    individual income-tax level. Seventy percent of new jobs are created by
    small businesses in America. Taxing small businesses is bad economic
    policy.
        And there's a gap between what he's promised and what he can deliver. Running up the top two brackets like he wants
    to do raises between 600 and 800 billion dollars. And remember, there's
    $2.2 trillion of spending promises. So there's a gap, a gap between what
    he's promised and what he says he's going to pay. And guess who usually
    fills the gap?
        Audience member. We do!
        The President. You do. The good news is, we're not going to let
    him tax you; we are going to carry Florida and
    win on November the 2d.
        Third clear choice in this election involves the quality of life for
    our Nation's families. A good education and quality health care are
    important to a successful life. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I
    promised to end the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming our
    public schools. I have kept my word. We passed good, sound education
    reforms to bring high standards to the classroom and make our schools
    more accountable to parents and teachers. We're seeing progress. Math
    and reading scores are rising. We're closing the achievement gap by
    helping minority students. We will build on these reforms and extend
    them to our high schools so that no child in America is left behind.
        And we'll continue to improve our--life for our families by making
    health care more affordable and accessible. We'll expand health savings
    accounts so more small businesses can cover their workers and more
    families are able to get health care accounts

    [[Page 2690]]

    they manage and they call their own. We'll create association health
    plans so small businesses can join together and buy insurance at the
    same discounts that big companies are able to do. We will help our
    families in need by expanding community health centers. We'll make sure
    every eligible child is enrolled in our Government's low-income health
    insurance program.
        And we'll help patients and doctors all across this Nation by doing
    something about the frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running up your
    costs and running good doctors out of practice. I have met too many good
    docs being run out of practice because of these junk lawsuits. I met too
    many ob-gyns who are not able to practice their skill. I met too many
    pregnant women who are having to drive miles, which isn't right. Our
    expectant moms need good, quality health care, and these lawsuits are
    making it tough for them to find good, quality health care. You cannot
    be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-personal-injury-lawyer at the same
    time. You have to make a choice. My opponent
    made his choice, and he put a personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. I have made my choice. I'm standing with the docs and
    the patients. I am for medical liability reform--now.
        Senator Kerry has a different point of
    view on our schools and health care. Listen, he voted for the No Child
    Left Behind Act, but now he wants to weaken the accountability
    standards. He's proposed including measures like teacher attendance to
    judge whether students can read and write and add and subtract. He voted
    against health savings accounts. He opposes association health plans. He
    has voted 10 times against medical liability reform. He can run from his
    record, but he cannot hide.
        Now he's proposing a health care plan in
    this campaign, a big Government health care plan that would cause 8
    million families to lose private coverage they get at work and have to
    go on a Government plan. Eighty percent of the people who get coverage
    under his proposal would be enrolled in a Government program.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. In one of our debates, he
    looked in that camera and he told the Americans that when it comes to
    his health care plan, and I quote, ``The Government has nothing to do
    with it.'' I could barely contain myself. [Laughter] My opponent's plan
    would move America down the road to Federal control of health care. It's
    the wrong road for American families. He can run from his plan----
        Audience members. But he cannot hide!
        The President. In all we do to improve health care, we will make
    sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by officials in
    Washington, DC.
        The fourth clear choice in this election involves your retirement.
    Our Nation has made a solemn commitment to America's seniors on Social
    Security and Medicare. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I promised
    to keep that commitment and improve Medicare by adding prescription drug
    coverage. I have kept my word. Seniors are now getting discounts on
    medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income seniors are getting $600
    this year and $600 next year to help pay for prescriptions. And
    beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug
    coverage under Medicare.
        My opponent voted against the Medicare
    bill that includes prescription drug coverage, even though it was
    supported by AARP and other seniors groups. This campaign, he said, ``If
    I'm the President, we're going to repeal that phony bill.'' A little
    later he said, ``No, I don't want to repeal it.'' That sounds familiar.
    As your President for the next 4 years, I will defend the reforms we
    have worked so hard to pass and keep the promise of Medicare for our
    country's seniors.

    [[Page 2691]]

        We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors, and we
    will strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Every campaign
    is predictable. It is predictable that you'll hear once again that our
    seniors will lose their checks. I want you to remind our seniors that in
    the 2000 campaign, they said, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors
    will not get their Social Security checks.'' You might remember that.
    Well, remind them of this: George W. got elected, and the seniors got
    their checks. And the seniors will continue to get their checks. And
    baby boomers like me are just fine when it comes to the Social Security
    trust.
        But we need to be concerned about children and our grandchildren. We
    need to make sure that the Social Security system will be there when
    they need it too. And that is why I believe younger workers ought to be
    able to take some of their own money and put it in a personal savings
    account, a savings account they call their own, a savings account the
    Government cannot take away.
        My opponent takes a different approach. He
    talks about protecting Social Security, but he's the only candidate in
    this race who has voted eight times for higher taxes on Social Security
    benefits.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He can run----
        Audience members. But he cannot hide!
        The President. And when it comes to the next generation, he's offered nothing in terms of Social Security reform.
    The job of the President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to
    future Presidents and future generations. In a new term, I'll bring
    Republicans and Democrats together and strengthen Social Security so a
    younger generation can count on it.
        The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so
    crucial to keeping America's families strong, and here my
    opponent and I are miles apart. I believe
    marriage is a sacred commitment. I believe marriage is a pillar of our
    civilization, and I will always defend it. This is not a partisan issue.
    When Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as
    the union of a man and a woman, the vast majority of Democrats supported
    it, and Bill Clinton signed it into law.
    But Senator Kerry was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that
    voted against the Defense of Marriage Act.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. I believe that reasonable people can find common
    ground on the difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats and many
    citizens on both sides of the life issue came together and agreed we
    should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. I was honored
    to sign that bill. But Senator Kerry was part
    of the out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted against the ban.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He also voted against
    parental notification laws----
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. ----and against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. I will continue to reach out to Americans of every
    belief and move this goodhearted Nation toward a culture of life.
        During this campaign, my opponent has said
    that you can find the heart and soul of America in Hollywood.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. Most American families do not look to Hollywood as a
    source of values. I believe the heart and soul of America is found in
    communities like Jacksonville, Florida.
        All of these choices make this one of the most important elections
    in our history. The security, the prosperity of our country, the
    education of our children, and the health of our families, the
    retirement of our seniors, and the direction of our culture are--all are
    at stake. And the decision is in the best hands, the hands of the
    American people.

    [[Page 2692]]

        I see a positive future for this country. I see a better day. One of
    my favorite quotes was written by a fellow Texan. He said, ``Sarah and I live on the east side of the mountain.
    It's the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It's the side to see the day
    that is coming, not to see the day that is gone.'' During this campaign,
    my opponent has spent much of his campaign
    talking about the day that is gone. I see the day that is coming.
        We have been through a lot together in the last nearly 4 years.
    Because we have done the hard work of climbing the mountain, we can see
    the valley below. We'll protect our families, build up the prosperity of
    this country, and defend our deepest values. We will spread freedom in
    this world and achieve the peace we all long for.
        When I campaigned in your State 4 years ago, I said if you gave me
    the honor of serving, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the
    office to which I had been elected. With your help, I will do so for 4
    more years.
        God bless. Thank you for coming. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. at Alltel Stadium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Senator Zell Miller of
    Georgia, who made the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National
    Convention; Mel R. Martinez, senatorial candidate in Florida;
    entertainers Billy Cerveny and Aaron Tippin; former President Saddam
    Hussein of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; and
    Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.